Red Dress
by Sassybratt
Summary: It's been a long time since the well sealed and they were separated by 500 years. But no matter how much time divided the star-crossed lovers, she would continue to dance under the moonlight with her red dress on. One-shot.


A/N: Inspired by the song _Red Dress _by Lucy Hale

**Red Dress**

Three years had passed since the well sealed and Kagome was fated to live the remainder of her days in the present time. It never got easier and her heart never stopped aching for all that she had lost. Much had changed in the world around her. Friends had grown up and moved on, but not in the sense that she had.

She was very different from other girls her age. While most were busy with college applications and future job opportunities, Kagome busied herself with things she deemed more important. She would go to the archery range on Sunday and spend Tuesday afternoons in her garden with various herbs. These were the skills she desired to conquer, even if they wouldn't land her a job at an esteemed hospital.

Hope was not a stranger to her. A long time ago, that was all she knew. There was a period of sorrow and mourning, of knowing that she very well may never see her beloved half-demon again. But those doubts were short lived, and she continued to anticipate her return to the world beyond the well. She would never give up on that possibility.

While humming a sad tune, Kagome slipped on the red dress she cherished above all else. It was a beautiful crimson that reminded her of the one person she refused to forget. His robe of the fire rat mirrored the shade perfectly, causing her to buy it on impulse. The few luxuries she allowed herself were therapeutic in the state her heart was in.

Many months ago, Kagome had decided to stop fighting the urge to recall her lost friends. Instinctively, she had tried to push them from her mind in an effort to quell the heartbreaking tempest raging within her, but finally found that her efforts were in vain. No matter how strong she willed her heart to be, she knew she was fighting a losing battle.

The Sacred Tree towered over her as she rested her palm against the scar on its trunk. It's where a spell had captivated her beloved long before she had existed. And being star-crossed lovers as they were, it was the place where they had first met.

She closed her eyes and imagined that he was here with her. The scent of pine filled the air and she could almost feel his presence. His silver hair twirled with the breeze as he stood strong and proud beside her. Amber eyes glowed in the twilight and her heart missed a beat.

A satisfied smirk settled on his lips as he crossed his arms. _"Keh, stupid." _His voice was a whisper in her ear, causing a shiver down her spine. _"What are you doing here?"_

"I miss you," she spoke softly with a smile. "And don't call me stupid."

Kagome repeated this ritual whenever the week had been too hard or her brush with reality was too much to bear. She would come to the Sacred Tree with a glass of wine and pretend as if he had crossed the five-hundred year span.

They spoke about her day and the issues she faced. She knew it wasn't real. Their conversations were only a figment of her imagination. But recalling his voice and hearing his responses helped her to remember.

These moments lasted for a while until she decided to let him go for the time being. Kagome would open her eyes and find herself alone with an empty glass. She needed this, though. For the only thing she feared in life was to wake up one day and forget Inuyasha had ever existed.

_**RED**_

The afternoon had winded down among the village as Inuyasha set down the last crate for the day. He had spent his time traveling with the monk to gather riches in order to afford the three children that had so far been born. He wasn't particularly fond of the job, but it kept him busy, allowing less time for him to dwell on less fortunate thoughts.

He had endured thirty-six moonless nights since the woman he yearned for left his side. Loneliness had been a constant companion, but he fought to hide it from the others. He already despised their worried glances. They often tried to include him in their lives and he would always keep some distance. He didn't need their pity. He had been alone once before, he could do it again.

Inuyasha nodded his farewell to Miroku, as the monk tried to fight off three miniature humans, and folded his arms into his robe of the fire rat. He trudged up the flush green hill that overlooked the village and released a sigh.

More times than he cared to admit, the half-demon found himself searching through the crowded town for a face he hadn't seen in a long time. He knew it was impossible. And yet, stranger things had happened. After all, it was magic and improbable chance that had brought him through the whirlwind of a fairytale before. It could happen again.

The Sacred Tree mocked him as he stood beneath it. This was the place he had departed with one love and had met the next. His very life had changed path under those branches. It was here that his path to becoming a full-fledge demon was to change entirely.

It was also, he thought with a smile, the place in which he and Kagome had spent many nights together. They would sneak away from Kaede's hut on more than one occasion. Kagome always begged him to take her to see the stars and sit beneath that tree that stood against the ages.

One particular night, the village was full of laughter and music as they celebrated some festival. It was a chilly night, but the pair made the trek to the tree as they always did when the glimmer came to her eyes.

She had sneezed and sniffled for a few minutes before he rolled his eyes and addressed her. _"You'll catch a cold," _he stated, taking off his _haori_ and wrapping it around her shoulders.

Her eyes found his and she smiled. "_Thank you, Inuyasha_."

He folded his arms and looked away, trying to ignore the heat reaching into his cheeks. They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Kagome stood abruptly and walked a few paces into the clearing.

Amber sought her in the darkness, watching as she fit her hands inside his robe and began twirling in circles. He raised a brow. _"What are you doing?"_

She laughed, her arms outstretched, as she continued to spin. "_I'm dancing to the music."_

Inuyasha scowled. _"You call that dancing? You look like a fool."_

Kagome had ignored his barb and decided to invite him along. _"Dance with me, Inuyasha."_

"_Not on your life,"_ he had replied with a defiant tone. _"I wouldn't be caught dead doin' that."_

But little did she know, it wasn't the dancing part that kept him rooted to his spot beneath the tree. It was the fact that he was so entranced by her spinning in the middle of the clearing, arms outstretched, with his robe of the fire rat billowing behind her.

Kagome had danced through the night until almost the break of dawn. She danced long after the music had died down and the air had turned cold. And although Inuyasha had warned her that she would catch cold, he couldn't deny that he loved everything about that moment.

He especially loved her in red.

_**RED**_

Music drifted softly throughout the humble abode as Kagome stood at the kitchen sink, clearing up the dinner dishes from earlier. She sighed dejectedly as she felt loneliness creeping in. It would be another few days before her family returned from vacation to the Mainland. She would have called up one of her friends to come by and visit, but they were all away at college doing their own thing.

Life had really gone downhill since her time-traveling days.

Kagome shook her head to rid herself of the dark thoughts. "Stop thinking like that," she chastised. "You chose not to go away to school."

Her eyes peered out the window into the blackness of the eve toward the old well house and she exhaled deeply. It was hard to admit the real reason why she had stayed behind and had not followed her friends across the country. She hated to admit it, but it was true.

She was waiting for something that may never come.

Furrowing her brows with annoyance at where her thoughts had turned to, Kagome quickly finished up the dishes. She poured another glass of wine and cranked up the music so that the entire home seemed to pulsate with it.

Her red dress brushed against her legs as she spun and twirled through the house, eyes closed, as she simply felt the tune play along her heart strings. For not the first time that day, she allowed a whirlwind of memories to come forth. From the first moment she had laid eyes on her half-demon companion, pinned to a tree by a sacred arrow, she knew something had shifted. Life as she knew it was ending. But oh, something so much more beautiful was beginning.

She recalled the countless childish arguments she shared with Inuyasha. She remembered the heartache she felt each time she caught him head-over-heels for Kikyo. And she flashed back to each time he came charging after her, protecting her, _saving her_, in more ways than she cared to admit.

Yes, she had been saved. It was hard to catch at first, seeing how many times it was her heart aching and her eyes crying. But Inuyasha had saved her in as many ways a person could be saved, whether he ever realized it or not.

"Stupid dog-boy," she mumbled, taking a sip of wine and opening her front door, letting the light shine out into the yard beyond. She crept through the darkness along the familiar path to the well house. It wasn't often she ventured there, as she chose to keep away from the very place that took her feudal fairytale away from her.

But today was special. Because it was exactly three years ago to the very hour that it had been ripped out from beneath her.

Kagome often wondered if maybe she had changed something, done something different, then perhaps she would have been allowed to stay with Inuyasha. Perhaps if she didn't get so upset with him all the time, and stopped running away, maybe fate would have let her stay. If she had known then what she knew now, she would have held him close and never would have said goodbye.

She slid open the doors to the old well house and slowly slipped down the stairs. Her wine splashed softly against the glass as she twirled it in her hand with an arm crossed over her chest. She contemplated the wooden well before her. It seemed so ordinary it was hard to believe it had once been connected to a world five-hundred years in the past.

A sigh escaped her lips as she leaned against the frame, looking down into the darkness below. No star-covered sky greeted her, as she often saw when she ventured through time during the night. Oh how she missed the stars. They were never as bright in her era, and realizing this always put her in a foul mood.

"Pull yourself together, girl," she reprimanded herself, taking a sip of wine and shaking her head. "It's been three years. Nothing has changed. And no matter how much you wish for it, you can't change fate."

She bit her lip and turned to leave, tears coming to her eyes. "If I had one wish," she whispered, her words swallowed up by the darkness. "It would be to see Inuyasha again."

Before she could further dwell on her confession, she finished her glass of wine, and proceeded to the house to pour another, shutting the well house doors behind her.

_**RED**_

It was sudden. Inuyasha quickly opened his eyes and peered around his surroundings. He had fallen asleep high up in the branches of the Sacred Tree, Tetsusaiga propped in the crook of his elbow. The only sound that greeted him came from the forest life. He sniffed the air, searching for what had awoken him with such a start.

He could sense that the old hag and Rin were still asleep in the hut near the shrine. Sango and Miroku were okay, along with their children. Nothing alarming seemed to be in the air, putting him even further on edge.

Inuyasha jumped down from the tree and fitted his sword on the waistband of his _hakama_. He didn't understand it. But then, it happened again. The subjugation beads that still hung around his neck, placed there by Kagome when they had first met, pulsated against his skin.

"What the …?" His clawed hand touched them gently, afraid he would break them. It was the last piece he had of Kagome. Losing them would be absolutely devastating.

When the necklace trembled against him once more, he suddenly heard music. It was faint, but it was there nonetheless. His ears swiveled on the top of his head before concentrating in the direction of the Boneater's well.

Without a moment of hesitation, he dashed through the forest in only a few bounds, coming to land right beside the well. He swallowed, pausing, before slowly peeking his head over the side. What met his eyes shocked him.

It was very dark. He couldn't see the bottom, but a soft breeze brushed against his cheek. Music drifted to his ears and the smell of a certain time-traveling school girl greeted him.

"Kagome?" he called quietly. He couldn't see her, but he knew she was there somewhere.

He didn't know what would happen if he jumped through the well. He wasn't sure if it would close on him unexpectedly like it did last time. All he knew was that in this moment it was allowing him into the future, allowing him to see the girl his heart ached for.

Inuyasha jumped into the well without looking back.

_**RED**_

Wine was a curious thing. It could be sweet or bitter. Red or white. But it always made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. And after two bottles, Kagome could say she was just that.

She twirled haphazardly beneath the Sacred Tree, giggling uncontrollably, as she spun with her arms outstretched. Her empty wine glass was lying somewhere in the dirt, but she didn't care. She was warm and happy and feeling oh-so-alive.

"Stupid Inuyasha," she chuckled, continuing to dance in the moonlight. "He always had to pick fights and had to have the last word. Maybe if he wasn't so stupid, I'd still be there and we wouldn't be in this predicament."

_He never did have a smooth approach in dangerous situations, _she noted wryly, recalling how many times they had gotten themselves in deep trouble because he always had to go charging in.

"Stupid, huh?" a voice called to her.

Kagome's heart fluttered in her chest and a lump formed in her throat. She stopped spinning and tried to ignore the dizzying appearance of the world while trying to right herself. A man in red stood before her, but there was currently three of them, and she had trouble choosing which one to look at.

"Keh, you're the one dancing around like an idiot," he taunted, baiting her, with a smug smile.

"Inuyasha," she growled, responding to his barb before even realizing what she was saying. "Sit boy!"

There was a loud crash followed by a yelp as the man was slammed into the ground face-first. His silver hair was splayed out in all directions as the dog ears atop his head swiveled toward her.

Kagome blinked once, then again, as her vision became clear and the dizziness subsided. The vision of the man wasn't going away, and she tried to wrap her mind around that fact.

"Inu-Inuyasha?" she called hesitantly, taking a few steps toward him. She knelt down to look at him, waiting patiently for the spell to lessen a degree so he could speak.

"Ka-go-me," he grumbled through the dirt, prying his face off the earth. "What the hell was that for?"

She tilted her head to the side. "Inuyasha, is that you?"

"Of course it's me!" he yelled, sitting up and shaking his body like a dog to rid himself of the dirt and pebbles littering his clothes. "Who else would it be?"

With his words of confirmation, tears came to her eyes and she broke down in a fit of sobs. Her hands covered her face as she wept, wails of heartache shaking her frame.

Inuyasha appeared taken aback by her reaction. "Uh, Kagome? Wait. Please don't cry. I didn't mean any of it." He reached out to touch her, hoping to ease her out of whatever state she was in. He pulled her hands away from her face. "Kagome?"

Brown eyes gazed up at him, drowning him in their depths. "I've missed you," she confessed. "I've missed you so much."

He gave her a soft smile, one he only reserved for her. "I missed you, too, Kagome. But I gotta say, you being all blubbery wasn't what I was expecting."

Kagome's eyes widened in realization and she quickly pulled her hands away from him. "Oh, crap," she said, running her hands quickly through her hair. It was tangled from the wind and probably looked a mess. Her face must be no better, as she was sure the tears wetting her cheeks and snot coming from her nose was anything but attractive. Not to mention her cheeks were probably flushed from all the wine she had consumed.

Basically, she was a hot mess.

"What's the matter?" Inuyasha asked with furrowed brows, a little concerned with the range of emotions going through her right now. "Did I do something wrong?"

She looked at him, seeing the uneasiness in his eyes, and exhaled deeply. She smiled sheepishly. "No, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just so unexpected, you being here, and I'm not exactly in the best state to be good company." She giggled nervously as he raised a brow. "I'm kinda drunk, Inuyasha."

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I could've told you that," he grumbled, standing up. He held out a hand and pulled her up beside him. "But I don't care what you look like or how you're feeling. I just wanted to see you, whether you liked it or not."

Kagome's cheeks blushed prettily, and it wasn't from the wine. She bit her lip and gazed up at him, suddenly curious. "Inuyasha, why are you here? How did you get through the well? It's been sealed for the past three years."

He shrugged and pointed to the subjugation beads around his neck. "I think it had something to do with these. They woke me up out of a dead sleep."

She raised a brow. "I don't understand. They let you travel through the well?"

"I guess so. But when I found out the well was opened, I didn't really ask questions as to why."

Kagome delicately touched the beads with her fingers and felt a warmth burry itself deep in her chest. "I wished to see you again," she spoke softly, recalling her declaration in the well house hours earlier. She ignored Inuyasha's questionable expression, and simply smiled. "We're still connected."

"Is that so?" he asked, watching tears brim her eyes. "I guess the old hag was right."

She looked up at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

"When the beads were first placed around me, Kaede had said your word has power to hold my spirit." He took her hand in his and stepped closer, hearing her breath hitch in her throat. "I guess even over five-hundred years, you still hold power over me."

Kagome wasn't sure what happened next. Her mind was in a haze and she couldn't comprehend what was happening. All she knew was that in one moment he was gazing at her longingly, and the next she felt his lips upon hers.

He kissed her longingly and passionately. Her heart thudded in tune with his and she felt her lips responding. She kissed him back and curled her hands around his robe of the fire rat, pulling him closer. His arms wrapped around her and his hand became entangled in her obsidian hair. The rest of the world fell away and it was just the two of them.

Everything seemed right again.

Breathless, Kagome pulled away and tried to search through her clouded mind. Inuyasha was here. Right here. And he had kissed her. It seemed improbable, impractical, and she all but screamed that this was only a dream.

But then she had to remind herself. Meeting him the first time had been a dream. Falling down a well into a fairytale world was supposed to have been a dream. However, it had been true time and time again. So this could be true too, couldn't it?

"What …" she spoke, still trying to get her bearings. She shook her head. "What do we do now? What about the well?"

He smirked. "Is that all you can think about?"

Kagome frowned and glared at him. "Inuyasha, the well closed on us once before and we were separated for a long time. What if it closed again?"

"Does it matter?" he asked. "We're together now, Kagome. Does it matter what time we're in?"

She startled at his confession. He knew that when he jumped in the well that day, that there was a chance he would never be able to return to the world he knew. He understood that he may leave all of his friends behind simply to be with her again.

A tear slid down her cheek. "No, it doesn't," she replied, twirling a strand of his silver hair.

They weren't sure if they would be able to return to the other side of the well. They didn't know if it would be open, and if it was, how long it would stay open. All that mattered to them was that they were together, whether it be in the past, present, or future.

"Well, now that that's settled," he said with a smirk, taking a step back and surveying the Sacred Tree. "What exactly were you doing out here?"

She giggled. "I was dancing, Inuyasha," she replied, already beginning to spin once again. The moonlight shimmered off her ebony hair, causing her to appear in a blue back-glow.

Inuyasha watched her dance, recalling a memory from long ago, with that red dress twirling in the night breeze. A smile settled over his lips.

It was going to be the death of him.

That little red dress.


End file.
